1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to testing of routing resources forming a path between a source and load(s) in a network.
2. Related Art
To test resources used by a network, typically a source node is configured as a pattern generator for sending signals through the network routing resource path to another node serving as a load. The patterns generated are configured to simulate all the possible operation conditions and to use all the routing resources connecting the source and load nodes to ensure that the routing resources are functioning properly.
In a programmable circuit such as an FPGA, the source and load nodes can be programmed into the configurable logic blocks (CLBs) and other FPGA resources to create modules. The modules can be complicated Intellectual Property (IP) block circuits that are programmed by a customer into the FPGA after receiving the device from the manufacturer. For a manufacturer to fully test the routing resources, the complex IP blocks must typically be obtained from the third party customer to program into the FPGA to generate the test patterns. For testing the routing resources to or from an IP block, the external source and load devices typically must also be obtained by a manufacturer from a third party. It would be desirable to test the routing resources of a network without the need of first obtaining complex IP from a third party.
With more complex sources and loads, even after obtaining complex IP block modules, testing of the routing resources may be difficult. Challenging control and observation points can prevent generation of patterns needed for testing of the routing resource paths without a host of additional communications over the routing network paths. The challenging control and observation points, thus, prevent a guaranteed 100% fault test coverage of the resources to and from the IP. A complex and time consuming test procedure may be impractical for manufacturers. It would be desirable to provide a method of testing routing resources between complex IP modules using a minimum amount of test sequence steps to test all the routing resources.